A few days back, 2 students came asking about our rental unit. They are referred by our current tenants (Acharya college students).
They checked the property, and they are fine with the rent and property, but they requested a little discount on the Advance amount.
After a little conversation with the students, I learned their previous owners never returned the Advance they paid, so they have to give less advance as much as possible.
This is a common issue I frequently hear from the students who come asking about our rental units.
This does not only happen in rental units; I also heard similar stories in Paying Guests (PG).
When the students told me the owner hadn’t returned their advance, I told them they might have damaged something in the property, so they could not have returned your security advance.
To which students replied, “No sir, no damages happened” as they replied.
I cannot really comment on hearing one side story. But I know this is commonly happening. I heard many such stories from my current tenants as well.
Let me share my thoughts on it…
We rent our property from past 4 years. In all these years, I have had almost zero complaints regarding advance amount deductions or advance amount refunds.
Think about ZERO complaints…
Even if we deduct any money from the advance, we ensure users understand why we are doing it. Before deducting, we give the option to our tenant to fix/replace the damaged part themself. Still, all of the tenants are fine with deducting itself.
In fact, we try to maintain a good relationship with all the tenants even after they vacate our property. They, in fact, refer their friends and ask for any 1 bhk house availability even after moving. If they are angery or upset do you think they will do this?
Don’t get me wrong. We also deduct damages that happened on the property. In most cases, it’s much less. And we refund all the leftover amount.
After seeing so many similar complaints from many students here I’m sharing the few Advance amounts that we refunded to our good tenants that I can find on my Whatsapp chat history.
1) Soumya
This tenant is also a good tenant for us. She didn’t give 30 days notice period. We could have deducted as per our agreement condition, but we got an immediate replacement, so we didn’t charge for her.
House No 2 Advance Refund:
Advance: 30,000
1st july to 31st rent: 7000
1st Aug to 3rd rent: 677
one month painting: 6600
Damages if any: 130 (32Amps DP switch)
15 day less notice Period 6(a): 0
Final Amount we need to Return: ₹15,593
2) Zayn Khan
This tenant is also a very good tenant for us. But he didn’t give a 30-day notice period, which he was supposed to, so we deducted the 30-day notice period charges only until we found the next tenant for his room. Which is 7 days when we could charge him for 30 days in his case.
Arun House No 7 Refund:
Advance Paid to us: 20000
Rent Previous Month: -6,400
Rent this Month: 01/10/24 - 07/10/24 -1,445
Paintaing Charges 8(b): -6000
30 day less notice Period 6(a) - Charged only for 7 days: -1355
Toilet and Kitchen Cleaning: 0
Less than 11 month charges: 0
Electricity Bill: 0
Damages if any: 0
Final Amount we need to Return 4800
3) Non refundable Token Advance refunded as a goodwill (not happens always)
A genuine case asked for a non-refundable token advance refund because the previous owner didn’t give his Advance refund to vacate. So we refunded without hesitation.
4) H no 4 Advance Refund and asking any availability even after moving
His roommate’s education was over, and he couldn’t afford the rent alone. So he vacated our property. He still asks for any room availability even after moving.
House No 4 Vacating:
Advance Paid to us: 25,000
Rent: 01/12/23 to 28/12/23: 5690
Paintaing Charges 8(b): 6300
Electricity Bill: 100
Damages if any:
Key lost: 500
Final Amount we need to Return: 25000-12,590=12410
50℅ split (to his roomate): ₹6,205
Unlike most owners, we don’t keep your Advance amount. We refund after deducting any charges & deductible damages.
You must only remember that you should keep the property in good condition and damage-free and follow our guidelines. The more trouble you give, the stricter the deduction will be.
I’m telling openly, but most won’t. The thing is, most won’t even bother refunding the advance amount. We don’t like to do that.
If you think you are good and follow instructions properly, then join our 1 bhk house for rent near Acharya Institute without thinking about the advance refund issue.